Christmas Ornament Swap

Some of my very creative friends and I had a girls' night out at a local restaurant and swapped Christmas ornaments. Here are the ones that I received. The first one was made by Kris (Collage Contessa) and the one below was made by Trisha (easily amused, hard to offend).

Aren't they beautiful?














They are all so unique! The only sad part is (hangs head in shame), I have not put up my Christmas tree and I don't think I will be able to this year. I just simply ran out of time. Oh well there is always next year right???















Here are the two ornaments I made to share. I used the Deck the Halls DSP and a stamp from Greeting Card Kids. I used blender pens and ink pads to color the image.

Chipboard Ornaments

These are ornaments I made for my Acteens class I teach at church. Acteens is a missions oriented group for girls in 7th to 12th grade. I made these with pieces from ornament kits Stampin' Up! offered a while back. I bought several of these kits when they went on sale for half price. (I can't resist a sale!) The bases are chipboard covered with precut DSP from the kit. I used Stampin' Up! glue sticks to adhere the DSP to the chipboard. I used some Basic Pearls from Stampin' Up, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Rhinestone brads, felt snowflakes (from the Stampin' Up! clearance rack) and elastic cord to decorate.
I packaged each in a cellophane back with a topper cut with the scallop square die and embellished with DSP covered chipboard pieces.

Candy Cane House

This little house was soooo much fun to decorate once I overcame my fear. I knew I wanted to use this paper from the Candy Cane Designer Series Paper. I used Tombow™ Liquid Glue to glue the house together, to attach the DSP and to decorate the roof. The roof was made with strips of Wild Wasabi that I punched with the Scallop Border Punch. I glued the strips on the roof with a little overhang and then went back and trimmed the edges. The glittered door and shutters were made with Sticky Sheetst. The wreath was a Sticky Sheet I ran through the Big Shot with the scallop circle from the Pennant die. I made the "curtains" with retired ribbon from the Fairy Tale ribbon on the Stampin' Up!™ clearance rack. The snowflakes are also from the clearance rack.



I would have done a couple of things differently. I should have used Whisper White on the back of the Sticky Sheets for the shutters and wreaths to make them easier to handle. Also, I would have decorated the back of the roof before I glued it to the house.

A Cupcake????

Isn't this just the cutest???? This was a project I made at a shoebox swap sponsored by my 2nd level upline, Debbie Menez. Bet you can't guess what is rolled up in the middle????? Give up???

It is a SOCK! You simply fold a sock in half and roll it up. The paper is a strip of DSP that was run through the crimper. The "cherry" is a red pom-pom. We made these at one of my stamp clubs-see what you missed out on by not attending????? Cupcakes with zero calories and I didn't have to cook to make these!!

Computer Probs (AGAIN!)

I just realized that I never posted the graduation announcement I made for my daughter. The base of the card is the now retired color Handsome Hunter that I ran through the Big Shot™ with the Movers & Shapers™ die. The Basic Black panel was embossed with a Cuttlebug™ embossing folder. The cap is a stamp from a retired Stampin' Up!™ graduation set; the diploma is a stamp I picked up at a garage sale.

I printed the Senior 2010 on a sheet of Brushed Silver paper using my inkjet printer. I used My Digital Studio™ to space the text so I could punch them out with my Curly Label Punch.

I am posting this using my daughter's computer. We had a large storm here in Kansas City on Sunday and out power went out. My son's & daughter's computers fired right up with no problems but mine is well, sickly.

This is such a busy week! I just got a new box of goodies and I still haven't had time to play. Oh well there is always tomorrow!

Card Organizer

This is a handy tool to have to keep track of all those birthdays, anniversaries etc. You simply write down the upcoming events on the calendar and then place the cards you have made to send or give in the pockets. I think I will even add a list of addresses and place a book of stamps in the back pocket. If I was really organized I could address the envelope when I place it in the pocket (or not-perhaps that is a wee bit tooo organized).
After I took these photos I replaced the ribbon on the sides with metal book rings because I was afraid the ribbon would come untied. If I owned a bind-it-all that would probably make it even sturdier. I am having a class on Sat. June 19 and you can make one yourself for only $12 ($11 if you prepay.) Colors & DSP will vary.

Stamps: Boho Backgrounds, Define Your Life
Paper & Ink: Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss

The directions for this came from Jacqueline Cameron and were posted on the SU demo web site.

Glass Tile Rub On Necklace

This is a great project I learned at my upline's upline Debbie Menez. They are quick and very inexpensive to make.

They are made using glass tile found at a home improvement store, rubons, heavy duty glue (I used E-6000), jewelery spacers and ribbon or elastic cord. You could also put these on a chain. The tile comes in different colors and different thickness. I liked the shades of grey and black because most of my rubons are black & white. However, the one I made at Debbi's was with earth tone tile and I used an Old Olive rubon.

Here is a close-up of the jewelery spacers we used. We took one of the split rings off using needle nose pliers.


This is a photo of the back of the tile. The white paper backing comes already on the tile.


Here are a couple of different ones I made! One of my friends is making these to give as gifts and she said she put a coat of clear nail polish on top to seal them.

Put these in a fancy box and voila! Great gift!

Happy Belated Halloween

Hope you had a Happy Halloween and didn't eat too much candy! My kids (ages 20 & 17) had a few friends over Friday night. Many of them actually came in costume. My DD bought some strobe lights, a ghost that "flew" across the room and other scary decorations. Everyone seemed to have fun-they drank a lot of pop, ate a bunch of candy and chips and played games!

Ugh! I didn't realize this was hanging crooked! I took these photos outside and I couldn't see the screen of my digital camera and as usual I was in a hurry. Oh well you get the idea!
This was a very fun project! Most of the things I make are for classes, clubs or swaps and while I love making them it was nice to make something just for fun. I could use my retired stash, I didn't have to think if I had enough pieces to make enough swaps, what is on special, etc, etc. I could just play!
The panels are chipboard odds & ends that I ran through the Big Shot with the Top Note Die. The paper is from Cast-a-Spell and I used a glue stick to adhere them to the chipboard. The letters are from the On Board Simon lower case that are on clearance. Because this set of letters only has one of each I did have to create and extra "e" from a "c" and an extra piece. I also made an "l" by cutting off part of a "k". I used craft ink spots to color the letters. I don't have Perfect Plum craft so I inked a layer of Elegant Eggplant and when it was dry inked a layer of Lovely Lilac.

I used my only (gasp!) Halloween set for a couple of the embellishments. It is SU but retired. The owl is chipboard covered in DSP with Kiwi Kiss corduroy button eyes (actually the paper color is Old Olive but don't tell anyone!) with a couple of punched out black circles. The metal pieces between the panels are jewelery spacers that I used on another project.

Explosion Box

Here we go again-my photos are posted in the wrong order! At least they are turned the correct way. Blogger has a mind of its own (or I sometimes don't know what I am doing!)
This is called an Explosion Box or sometimes Scrapbook in a Box. I used a tutorial I found here at Stampin Addicts. It is actually fairly easy to make. The only hard part is scoring if you are like me and don't have a Scor-Pal yet. I used some retired DSP, Le Jardin (I think) just in case I did something wrong but it went together quickly and without any incidents (I didn't throw anything this time) . The top of the box is DSP cut with the Flower Layers #3 Sizzix die that is in the SU catalog.